The primary focus of the new release (aka DDE27) is the relocation of zero page, currently only included in release candidate versions of the operating system, but which will eventually find its way into a formal release version. As such, this version of the tools is itself free of any problems on such builds – according to ROOL, “In DDE27 the remaining illegal accesses which have been reported have been fixed.”

The tools themselves first saw the light of day in 1988 in the form of the ANSI C Compiler, developed by Acorn in conjunction with Codemist, who themselves developed the Norcroft compiler suite on which it was based, and over the years the range of tools included in the package have expanded and its name changed accordingly.

As well as fixing the last remaining zero page issues, the updated package includes:

An updated version of Allocate, the application developers use to request resource allocations – application names, SWI blocks, and so on.

Updated libraries and header files, RISC_OSLib and TCPIPLibs in particular.

A brand spanking new manual for the BASIC compiler ABC.

And the long lost ABC examples referred to in the manual have been recreated.

For developers who have the most recent release (DDE26), due to the importance of this new release with the zero page protection issues addressed, DDE27 is being provided as a free update with copies being sent out by email. For developers with an older version issued by RISC OS Open, no matter which version it is or how long since it was purchased, the upgrade price is £25.00 – simply get in touch as instructed on the DDE page on the ROOL website.